Ecuador

The press freedom climate continued its sharp decline under President Rafael Correa. In September, a
CPJ special report concluded that
Correa’s policies had transformed the country into
one of the hemisphere’s most restrictive nations for the press. In March, Correa
brought a criminal libel complaint against senior managers of El Universo, the country’s leading critical
daily. The case, which centered on a biting opinion
column that condemned Correa’s actions in a 2010
standoff with police, resulted in convictions,
prison sentences, and multimillion-dollar fines against the managers. The managers were free on appeal in late year. Other government officials also used the nation’s archaic criminal defamation laws
to
try to silence journalists. The president made
frequent use of cadenas, presidential addresses that pre-empt all private broadcast programming nationwide, to smear
individual journalists and news outlets. Although
cadenas have traditionally been used to deliver information in times of crisis, they have become a forum for political
confrontation under Correa. The administration
used other tactics to supplant independent voices with its own perspective, repeatedly ordering individual broadcasters to give
over portions of their news programming to
government “rebuttals.” In a May referendum, voters approved ballot measures
that would allow the administration to regulate news content in vaguely defined areas and force media owners to divest other
holdings.

Ecuadoran television was pre-empted more than a thousand times for cadenas since Correa came
to power, according to Fundación Ethos, a nonpartisan Mexico-based research organization.

Cadenas breakdown:

150

Number of hours devoted to cadenas under Correa as of May 2011, according to Fundación
Ethos.

3

Cadenas devoted to discrediting the authors of the book El Gran Hermano (Big
Brother), which detailed allegations of official
corruption, CPJ research shows.
Correa also sued the authors for US$10
million.

The press group Andean Foundation for Media Observation & Study, known as Fundamedios, documented nearly 150 press freedom violations as of November 2011. They include
physical and verbal attacks, threats, harassment,
arbitrary lawsuits and judicial decisions, coerced pre-emption, and obstruction.

Press freedom violations, according to Fundamedios:

At a May referendum, voters narrowly approved a series
of administration-backed ballot questions, including two that harm press freedom. Voters approved in concept a communications law
that would, in turn, create a media regulatory
council. The precise text of the law was being debated by the National Assembly in late year. The other ballot measure barred
private national media companies, executives, and
main shareholders from holding assets in other companies.

Ballot measure breakdown:5: Members of the regulatory council, out of seven in all, who would be appointed by the
executive branch or chosen from groups with close
ties to the executive.2: Years granted for principals in media companies to divest.47: Percent of vote that approved measure regarding divestment. (The measure
passed with a plurality; some voters did not cast a vote on that question.)45: Percent of vote that approved the creation of a regulatory council through
the drafting of a communications law. (The measure passed with a plurality; some voters did not cast a vote on that question.)

El Universo executives Carlos Pérez Barriga, César Pérez Barriga, and Nicolás Pérez Barriga,
along with opinion editor Emilio Palacio, were
sentenced to prison and
multimillion-dollar fines in July. Palacio, who resigned,
later fled to the United States.